A Broken Wrist, A Broken Man
by DangoLovesYou
Summary: Kyo is forced to sacrifice his fight with Yuki for Tohru. What happens now that he can't win his freedom? Description Fail. One-shot. Based on the manga, character death, KyoxTohru.


A/N-This my first try at a story with a plot, so please forgive me if it's bad.

KyoxTohru, based on the manga

Warnings: Character death, Kyo in the Cat's Room, and probably OOC because this is only my second fic. There also might be some spoilers in there.

Kyo would never admit it, but one of his happiest memories was of a time he fractured his right arm in three places. A couple guys from a black van had gotten too far into Tohru's personal space to be ignored. He had intervened, fought, and won, but not before a bloody lip, a broken nose, and three cracks in his punching arm. It had come between him and a brick wall and paid the price. He had paid the price.

But the next day, Tohru was in tears, leaning above his hospital bed, perfectly unharmed. When Kyo realized she didn't have a scratch on her, he decided it had been worth it. He had gotten two predators off the streets, and Tohru was safe. So he smiled weakly, his swollen lips so painful his vision blurred, the image of his secret love going hazey and fading to black.

He had gotten hurt physically, she had gotten hurt mentally, but he wore that same hidden smile whenever he thought back.

And oh, all the time he had to look back because of this arm.

"Eight weeks." For two months, Kyo had to keep his arm in a cast, with no fighting allowed at all. There were seven weeks of school remaining. Seven weeks to best Yuki and win his freedom.

This realization crept into the cat's mind slowly. He pieced it together, the painful truth, over the course of days. It was more than a week after his hospital visit that he fully realized his fate consisted of only weeks and a tiny room.

Darkness, so much darkness awaited him that he kept with the light on while he slept.

Kyo wasn't the type to sleep in the light, and his limited eternity would give him more than enough time to rest, so mostly, in the nights following his realizing his future, he laid awake with his thoughts. Thoughts of Tohru.

One night, when his week count fell to four, he had just been unable to take it. He had knocked on her door around one in the morning, just as Saturday turned into Sunday. "Sorry to wake you, I..." And he had had nothing to say.

"Is something wrong? Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Even in her pajamas in the dark, Tohru was so beautiful, her words like a best friend wiping away stinging tears. Kyo couldn't help but grin, that same gentle smile that could barely be heard in his whispers. "No, I guess there's nothing wrong. I guess... I just couldn't stand the thought of having to wait until the morning to see you. And, I'm so out of it that I didn't think not to say that until I had already said it." He was too happy at the sight of her to care about embarrassing himself.

Tohru cocked her head slightly. "I don't understand. Was there something you wanted from me? Oh, if you can't sleep, I could make you some warm milk!"

"No, no, don't worry about it. I don't need anymore than what you've already given me."

The look on Tohru's face made it evident that she still didn't understand. Why should she? He wasn't making any sense.

Kyo stood there in the girl's doorway, bad arm propped on the thin brown wood, and realized that, with a life as defined and restricted as that of the cat waiting for him, he should really give in to what he wanted to do most. He had nothing to lose, or so he thought.

"Actually, I'd really like to talk to you, milk or no. Do you mind?" His quiet voice sounded odd in his throat. Or maybe it was the words. The words were unlike him, but he needed to be someone else for a second. Even with no potential to dampen, Kyo was so nervous his all-too-fragile bones shook. He would never be able to say what he felt if he wasn't careful.

Tohru didn't seem to notice. "Not at all! I was just having a nightmare, myself. I could use a little distraction."

It took Kyo a great deal of self control not to reach his arm around Tohru's waist as the two slipped from the hall into the kitchen. "Sorry about your nightmare. You okay? Need to talk or something?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Mom taught me how to deal with nightmares lots of times. I used to get them all the time right after my dad died." Kyo nodded. Even talking about the tragedies of her past, Tohru's voice was light and bubbly. He began to reconsider his decision to tell Tohru of his feelings. Did she really need another heartbreak? But no, one look at those kind features and Kyo knew she would want to have it this way.

They sat across from each other for a while. The room was silent, save the ticking of a clock and the gentle rustle of wind in leaves past the thin walls. Perfect for collecting one's thoughts.

"Tohru, there's something I have to tell you.

"I can't seem to keep from loving you." Kyo murmered the same thing into her hair three weeks later, on one of their last nights together. The night of the confession had ended with Kyo sweeping his fingers across Tohru's smooth skin, a blush pooling below his touch. Now, he was holding her as best he could, living in the sound of her heartbeat.

He recalled breaking his arm with a certain fondness, as it drove him to tell Tohru his feelings, and have the happiest three weeks he could have imagined.

18 days following, in the emptiness of a black cell, joy still sparked somewhere deep inside the teenager as he thought about those three fractures. Sick, perhaps, but he was the cat. He was born too sick to love, but not enough to mercifully kill.

Tohru had visited his twice since he entered his confinement, and another visit couldn't be too far away, even though he had told her not to return ever aga-

_Knock knock knock._

And there it was. Light stung the cat's eyes as daylight silhouetted Tohru's petite form. But as perfect as every moment with Tohru was, this could go no further.

He had been wrong, dead wrong. This was torture for both of them, being in love and separated by a cruel tradition. Only the unbreakable curse stood between the two lovers getting their happily ever after. But that couldn't happen, and having been together the three weeks only made it less bearable. Tohru and Kyo had been so close... It took Kyo getting locked away to realize that their time together might not have been worth the hearbreak. and every single minute they spent together made it ever harder to be apart. This hell had to end, before Kyo regretted loving Tohru entirely.

This was not even beginning to mention all the pain Akito was putting Tohru through. It was as though he had gotten a new animal to pick on. Kyo know that the god had at least caused her physical pain for certain. He could only imagine the awful emotional knives he had thrown at her. And it was all Kyo's fault. The reason Tohru kept sneaking back in and falling into Akito's grasp and hatred was because Kyo loved Tohru. It was all his fault, and he couldn't let it go on any more.

She shut the door, and darkness flooded the room again. "Hello, Kyo! How are you doing?"

"Tohru." Now his voice sounded all too familiar, all too his. "I'm going to tell you some lies, okay? I don't want to hurt you, which is why you have to get away from here, okay? Are you ready?"

That beautiful voice grew stone cold and painfully serious. "Don't, Kyo." It was remarkable how much she had grown since he had been locked away, how her youthful demeanor and gentle soul could fade for what had to be the first times in her life.

Kyo tried to feel guilty about doing that to her, and to have that guilt drive his words. "I don't want you around anymore. Stop bothering me."

"Stop."

"I don't need you and you don't need me. You might as well leave and forget you ever met me. Ask Hatori, he'll do it for you."

"Don't."

"You shouldn't have trusted me. I didn't really love you."

"No."

"Cats can't love! We lost the ability to love! We're too stupid! I could never love you!"

"No, Kyo! Stop it!"

"I just needed something to fill my time. And since no one cares about you, I wouldn't be screwing anyone over!"

"Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop-"

"No one loves you and no one loves me! So, go be heartbroken, Tohru!"

"-It, stop it, stop it, stop it-"

"Be a heartbroken fool and go and never come back! I don't want you here! I don't want you!" A hot tear trickled down Kyo's face as he screamed his lies, and his back felt the impact of a person stumbling onto him as Tohru collapsed into hugging him. His skin stretched and distorted and the world faded in and out of darkness as he transformed. His True Form huttled without attempting to move from his love's grasp.

"I'm sorry, Tohru. I'm sorry it has to be this way," Kyo muttered, his voice thickened by his lizard-like form. Warm drops ran down his shoulder. She was crying, too. And shaking.

"You won't convince me, Kyo. I won't stop coming here."

"I don't want Akito to hurt you anymore. He's even been threatening you to me. Those were all his words."

"That's fine."

"No, this is no way for you to live. You deserve a happy life with people who can care about you."

"People do care about me. And I got them imprisoned. I made you lose your fight with Yuki. This is all my fault." A shiver went down Kyo's spine. Those words, they tore people apart. Kana, him, and now Tohru.

"No, Tohru, it was my choice, okay? You're perfect. It's not your fault."

"I won't stop visting, Kyo. I love you, I miss you. I'll come see you every day."

"You can't."

"I will." Tohru finally pulled away from Kyo's shoulder and he transformed back. He clothed himself, and Tohru stood by the door.

"Promise me you'll see as many new days as you can," Kyo said, about ready to show Tohru out so he didn't do anything else to hurt her. Just by trying to save her he was hurting her. She deserved so much better, he knew.

Tohru nodded in confirmation. She left and returned the next day and the next, each day with a bright smile. She didn't lose her composure again, nor did Kyo, although he came close when he started noticing new, more punctuated bruises and scratches all over the girl. She tried to hide these scars, records of her sacrifice to see Kyo, but a great red gash on her cheek was hard to disguise.

He remained calm in front of Tohru, but skipped the next five breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Each time his stomach rumbled, his head ached like mad, the same thought would keep him from eating every time. _It's your fault for telling her you loved her. What were you thinking? She can't move on now. You did this to her. You're making her suffer. You're selfish, and now you're fixing what you broke. _

When Tohru returned on the sixth day, Kyo could barely move. He ran to his sprawled form, took his head in her lap, and realized exactly why Kyo had been growing weaker. This little food he got was tossed into a corner, and two letters were jammed between the floorboards, waiting to be found.

Tohru tried desperately not to cry and failed. "Kyo, please! Please eat! Kyo, don't leave! You can't leave like this!"

Kyo hushed Tohru and put on the same weak smile that found its way to his face more and more often as his circumstances got worse. "Please be happy, Tohru. For me." He thought about beating up those predators and sealing his fate, and he looked into Tohru's eyes and realized it was worth losing because she was safe. _Tohru. _

And then the hunger conquered him.

Tohru didn't show herself out like she usually did. She sat there with Kyo's head in her lap for countless hours. It was well after dark when she crawled to see the letter and held Kyo's cold hand as she read.

One was for her alone.

_Tohru,_

_I really don't know how to begin this. What do you use as your last words to the one you love?_

_I guess I should start with I'm sorry that this is how things ended up. I can't apologize for loving you, and you don't want me to, do you? But I'm sorry you had to get hurt, and I'm sorry I'm not there to hold you as you read this._

_You need to live, Tohru. Don't get stuck in the past or anything like that. Find someone who doesn't have a life like mine, but who loves you as much as I did. No, that's not, possible. But he's gotta come close. That's why I did this, Tohru. You deserve more than to love someone stuck in a box. So, be happy, because if you're not, then this is all for nothing._

_Please move on. I know you don't want to, and you never would have stopped coming if I hadn't done this. But please try. _

_And I'm sorry for being so selfish all the time. I'm only proud a little bit rubbed off on you. Remember to be the strong woman I know you are. _

_Love, Kyo the Cat_

* * *

__A/N- So it was bizarre and stupid, but it was my bizarre and stupid. Just in case anyone has the same taste in stories as me. I hope it didn't ruin your day or waste too much of your time.

Am I supposed to ask you to review now? I guess I would appreciate it if you did, but I'm not going to beg. Flames are welcome.


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